In the treatment of stenosis in the coronary artery system of a patient, coronary artery by-pass surgery is commonly used. More recently, in some cases, it has been found practical to resort to angioplasty procedures, whereby the obstruction can be removed from the arterial system without requiring coronary bypass surgery.
In either case, it has been found to be common that, following the surgery or angioplasty procedure, the tendency is for the stenosis or obstruction to build up in the same arterial section.
As a result of recurrence of the obstruction additional surgery or angioplasty treatments are often required over a period of time. The recurrent treatment could be avoided or reduced if it were possible to prevent the obstruction from recurring at the same general location.